ANARCHY

This article appears on the front page of today's Leicester Mercury:

Anarchy: Court hears of horrific attack on curry house

by Suzy Gibson, Court Correspondent

The actions of seven men involved in the ransacking of a Leicester curry house, in which several people were seriously injured, was "lawless anarchy", a judge has said.

Jailing each of the men for two years, Judge Simon Hammond said: "This was mob rule."

The owner and two members of staff suffered stab wounds, and customers were also attacked, when a group of 40 to 50 people burst into Moghul Durbar, in East Park Road, Spinney Hills, Leicester, at 9pm on January 14.

Leicester Crown Court was told the group had earlier met at a Sikh temple in Gipsy Lane, Northfields, in response to a text message claiming a member of their community was the victim of abuse.

They wrongly assumed the police were not taking action and, after being incorrectly informed that one or more of the suspected culprits would be at the restaurant, decided to take the law into their own hands.

"The owner and two members of staff were going about their lawful business and several members of the public, occupying four or five tables, including women and children, were eating there and enjoying themselves," said Gordon Aspden, prosecuting.

"The attack happened without warning, when the group began smashing the front windows of the restaurant.

"Armed men entered, from the front and rear. Many had their faces covered with scarves and hoods. Some were carrying ceremonial knives, metal bars, nunchucks and bricks.

"The sheer terror caused can't be over-emphasised. The premises were completely trashed, with furniture, glasses and plates smashed and carpets fouled with food and blood. It was wanton destruction.

"The owner was hit on the head by flying glass and forced into the kitchen, where he was stabbed in the chest and right arm and punched repeatedly.

"The waiter had hot water and chilli sauce thrown over him before suffering a life-threatening stab wound to his liver, while repeatedly being punched and kicked. The chef was stabbed in the back and hit over the head."

A husband and wife with their three children were finishing their ice creams when the mayhem broke out.

The husband was punched and retreated to the kitchen where a pan of hot curry was poured over him.

Mr Aspden said: "Two of his children followed him and saw what happened, and one was injured by a flying glass."

The man was the only witness willing to make a statement, as everyone else was too fearful.

People were seen fleeing in terror and covered in blood.The emergency services were called and who arrived quickly, moments after the mob fled. Mr Aspden said Pc Jennifer Collins's actions at the scene were "exemplary".

He said: "Her uniform was covered in so much blood, through helping the injured, it was used as an exhibit."

Two witnesses gave the police a registration number of one of the vehicles at the scene, a VW Golf, which was stopped northbound on the M1.

Masking tape had been used to alter its registration number, to try to evade the police.

Six of the defendants, all from Derby, were in the car: Surjit Pandher (28), a former prison warden, of Northfield, who owned the car; Gurmukh Singh Cheema (25), of Harrington Street; Ranjit Singh (21), of Harrington Street; Sundeep Singh Sangha (25), a gas heating engineer, of Wordsworth Avenue; Rajveer Singh Sangha (24), a college student, of Wordsworth Avenue; and Ranvir Singh (21), of Harrington Street.

Mr Aspden said blood-stained gloves were found in the car.

The seventh defendant, Kahan Khalsa (26), of Oldbury, Birmingham, was later arrested in the West Midlands.

All seven men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit violent disorder, on the basis they played no part in the stabbings or beatings.

Mr Aspden said: "It's quite impossible, on the evidence, to say who did what."

In a moving statement read out in court, the restaurant owner's wife said her husband survived a near-fatal car crash in 2008, after which he suffered from depression.

When they bought the restaurant in 2012, she said it gave him and the whole family "a new lease of life".

Mr Aspden said: "They were proud to have built the restaurant up from nothing ."

The owner's wife said she received a phone call after the attack and went to the restaurant to see her husband, covered in blood, being put in an ambulance.

She stated: "Since the attack, he's back to how he was before the restaurant.

"We've lost over £45,000 and we now want to want to move from here."

Judge Simon Hammond said: "No-one at the restaurant, either staff or customers, had anything do to with any allegations and were totally innocent."

He added: "It was carefully orchestrated. This was mob rule and the restaurant was trashed. It was lawless anarchy."

The judge said it was "as bad a case of violent disorder as is possible to imagine".

"I accept all seven defendants are decent men of previous good character. It gives me great sadness to see them in the dock.

"They come from good homes and they've let themselves and their families down."

He said the dozens of testimonials handed into the court spoke highly of the defendants.

In mitigation, the court heard the defendants, including two sets of brothers, genuinely regretted their involvement.

Francis Laird QC, mitigating for Ranjit Singh, said that at the meeting in the temple emotions were "whipped into a frenzy".

He said: "They set off, many not knowing what would happen, unaware weapons other than ceremonial kirpans were involved. The men responsible for serious violence were never caught.

"These defendants were the minnows, who went along out of misguided support."

Other defence counsel said some of them were only expecting "a protest" at the restaurant and did not anticipate violence.

EXPLORING FAITH AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

At County Hall, Glenfield (seat of Leicestershire County Council), for a meeting of the Interfaith Forum for Leicestershire. There's a good turnout, with over 40 attendees just about filling the Sparkenhoe Committee Room. There are people here from city and county groups - and from further afield.

This evening's topic is "Exploring Faith and the Justice System". The aims for the meeting (as stated in publicity circulated beforehand) are:

• to explore faith/religious beliefs, in the context of the justice system/Rule of Law
• to hear different perspectives around justice and the law, from a legal specialist, and also from faith perspectives
• to explore faiths which provide separate systems of law for their followers, and if/how these can be reconciled at all with the UK legal system, or whether this brings followers into conflict with their faith
• to get our members to think about what we agree as being morally/ethically right or wrong and to potentially explore issues around human rights.

Our speakers are:

• His Honour, Judge Simon Hammond of Leicester Crown Court
• Shaykh Faiz-Ul Aqtab Siddiqi of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal and Principal of Hijaz College Islamic University, Nuneaton

Judge Simon Hammond started his talk with a list of qualities that are expected of a Judge (each one illustrd with a an amusing or instructive anecdote): honesty; patience; briskness; attentiveness; independence. He addresses two practical issues relted to faith identity and practice in the courtroom: Muslim women wearing veils when giving evidence and saccomodating breaks for observance of prayers at specific times. In more general terms, he considers the relationship between justice and forgiveness, darawing on experience and knowledge of cases related to domestic abuse and crimes of a sexual nature (such as the Ealing Vicarage Rape Case). He ended by reading a prayer for Judges of all faiths. He left us with a question: does the conventionally accepted Locke/Rousseau Social Contract compromise the integrity of people who want to live their lives in submission to the will of God?

Shaykh Faiz-Ul Aqtab Siddiqi describes how he helped found the Muslim Arbitration Council in 2007 as part of a process to help Muslims born into third and/or fourth generation families here feel equally at home in being British and Muslim. The Council is different from Sharia Courts inasmuch as they can go beyond the conventional areas in which sharia Courts are seen to bbe involved. He tells us how 98% of the Council's work is with young people and that around 15% of those who bring their issues to the Council are not Muslim - indeed there are a growing number of cases where neither partyis Muslim). Their goal is to deal with issues before they escalate to the level where they come to the attention of the authorities and have to be dealt with by the Law.

We also hear from two young Muslim women from Leicester, involved in the Interfaith Youth Hub run by St Philips Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society, who tell us about their perspectives on Trade Justice. They had attended a meeting of the Christian-Muslim Youth Forum at Lambeth Palace, where they'd had the opportunity to meet the Archbishop of Catnerbury, Dr Rowan Williams. They pepper their brief presentation this evening with references from the Quar'an and Hadith to justice, fairness and honest dealing in trace and business. Given the strength of their conviction and the warmth of the reception from the audience, I have to say I'm glad I'm wearing my Ethletic trainers this evening!

There are some Bahá'ís heer this evening and, although it is not mentioned aloud, I am sure that they, like I, have in mind this verse from Bahá'u'lláh's Hidden Words:
The meeting is brought to a close by Noel Singh, Policy Officer at Leicestershire County Council, who organises these meetings (and more) from behind the scenes. He tells us that this is the last meeting of the Interfaith Forum for Leicestershire to be chaired by Resham Singh Sandhu, who has held the chair (which goes round members on an annual rotation) for the past twelve months. Noel also informs us of a memorial meeting for Rachel Carmichael, who passed away at the weekend. the memorial meeting will be held at the Quaker Meeting House, Queens Road, Leicester on Wed 28 July, 1430.

The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.